Christopher Pirie

@jrkelly Their only mistake was not building a TEM first

correct

@jrkelly Yessir! Synthetic DNA --> CFPS --> CFB (biocatalysis) all at scale, respectively. 100% theoretical yields achievable from diverse inputs unencumbered by transport limitations with simplified DSP.

@CMPirie Cell free you mean ?

Yeah I've been fighting these bad startup cultural vibes for 15 years in biotech. Ginkgo latched on to tech/YC land where the vibes are better and then I tried to do as much as I could to bring that attitude into the synbio-verse in 2010s. I only had mild success -- as @RyanBethencourt mentions in thread -- IndieBio was a good light for a bit especially while all the animal-free meat stuff was taking off, but when all the "weird biotech applications" (said very lovingly) crashed in 2022 we lost it. @johncumbers and @SynBioBeta have also held the line forever. There's a community that has nucleated a bit around @kulesatony and the @pillar_vc crew + founder-led biopharma startups that is good vibes. It's small but folks like @nabsicle, @DrSynbio, @alectricity, @Parastoo__KH, @srikosuri etc. (I'm leaving people off please add in thread). The @_DimensionCap + @RecursionPharma community is another one w/ good vibes maybe @RecursionChris can be an industry-wide community builder /stateman with his new found time😃. I think @SGRodriques and @EdisonSci and emerging AI for Science crew has great chance to be good vibes and is biotech-adjacent. @periodiclabs and @LiamFedus will will obviously be great on this given their tech pedigree and I've even got my hopes up that @AndrewLBeam and Geoff (no X handle?!) at @LilaSciences will bridge the Flagship-verse in which has always been too insular IMO (A girl can dream! :) Need more companies doing AI x Science! This area could really break-out to huge scale. And @ycombinator of course is the best, now with @agupta as a partner especially, but the tech part tends to drown out the bio. Still good vibes though. Overall though -- changing biotech culture to be more "abundance for all" and less zero-sum would be a big win for biotech. We shouldn't give up on it. Celebrate every new company in your space -- way more likely to get value out of biotech becoming a bigger story (i.e. a bigger pie) than to get competed out of your slice of the small pie we have today.

@jrkelly Get out of the bug and stop relying on evolved pathways.

@CMPirie really? I feel like bugs in fermentation tanks is just sort of stuck — can never get to price point we need for high volume chems and low volume chems are only expensive enough in drugs - not sure what would help to really blow it open. Maybe get out of the tanks ?

@jrkelly I think there may be more billion dollar chemicals than billion dollar drugs.

@CMPirie Yeah vibes better but market worse than biopharma :(

@srikosuri @gatesfoundation @wpwalters @fraser_lab Go Mariner's and drop by CoLabs if you have the time. Just down the street from the Gates folks.

Fun day hanging at the @gatesfoundation talking about OpenADMET and post meeting playoff baseball with @wpwalters & @fraser_lab.

Can we please all agree to stop saying "The chatGPT moment for [insert tech/industry]..." as if it's just something that happens spontaneously because AI and [] both exist.

@srikosuri Don't forget the cured meats!

You know, with all the lab equipment auctions these days, it would be pretty amazing to have a home microtome for parmesan.

@jrkelly Perhaps the best case scenario is that DoD becomes the primary conduit for research funding of all kinds (they seem to already take a favorable dual use perspective today).

@CMPirie ah yeah, that would be no bueno.

Whether progress (esp. technical / scientific progress) is a good thing for their constituents is the underlying debate in both US political parties right now, IMO.

@jrkelly It's unlikely since they don't seem to agree on anything other than defense spending but whichever ends up in favor of progress (scientific and social) will have my vote.

@jrkelly Progress

@jrkelly And what happens to the US if both decide it's bad?

(NEW EPISODE) He Raised $100 Million For A Company And Merged With Inscripta, And Is Now Converting Waste Into Valuable Products To Decarbonize The Chemicals Industry @CMPirie alejandrocremades.com/he-raised-100-… #entrepreneur #business #success

@DrSynbio 💯 I couldn't agree more. We have a few examples of effort from BARDA/DoD/DoE, but I fear it's too little too late.

I said this earlier this week: The US needs to get serious about reindustrialization like yesterday, and biomanufacturing needs to be front and center. We are already behind and the lead is widening DAILY.

@omri_drory I once heard Tom Chi from @atoneventures suggest that he actively avoids overly charismatic founders because it can distract from the fundamentals.

VCs know it when we see it. After a pitch, we look at each other and go "that founder was COMPELLING." A lot of that "compelling" feeling comes from intangibles. There's no perfect guide, but here are "intangible" elements that make a founder stand out: nfx.com/post/how-vcs-s…

Gotta say - decent pun.

@Taishi_Kimura Vaccine conspiracy theories certainly aren't exclusive to Japan and we definitely need to do something as a society to deter them globally, regardless of modality. Anything you can do on this front is amazing!

I just realized that some conspiracy theories about self replicating RNA are going around in Japan. We may need to take some measures for preventing misconceptions from spreading.

Excited to be attending the #BBGGreenFestival hosted by @BloombergLive during #PNWCW2024 and participating in the Climate Tech Challenge from @LeanerStartups and a variety of other affiliated networking events. Should be a busy and fun week.

@bhgolf How dare you, this is Seattle's time to shine.

I’m over summer

Awesome collaboration with the @McGuire_Lab now published! Use of @hdtbio’s LION/repRNA platform to prevent #EBV infection of humanized mice. nature.com/articles/s4154…